Signals, appraisal, and control: A dual-pathway model of safety enforcement in airline cabins

초록

This qualitative study explains how airline cabin crew reconcile a service identity with safety enforcement during in-flight disturbances. Using a grounded theory design, we conducted two in-depth interviews with thirty female crew members at a South Korean full-service carrier. We analyzed transcripts via open, axial, and selective coding until theoretical saturation. Findings show that service-first display rules, weak recognition of safety authority, uneven sanctions, complaint-weighted evaluations, and ambiguous manuals heighten anxiety and role conflict. We theorize a sequential mechanism in which appraisal alters perceived control, and institutional signals channel incidents into two reproducible pathways, namely Path A, responsibility avoidance (responsibility shifting, symbolic performance, feigned ignorance, indifference), and Path B, uncertainty reduction (manual-based performance, systematic record-keeping, peer coordination, reliance on cockpit authority). We formalize this as the Uncertainty Avoidance–Service Safety Conflict (UASSC) model, reframing uncertainty avoidance from a national trait to an enacted micro-mechanism mediated by organizational rules and evaluation systems. Practical levers that reliably shift decisions from Path A to Path B include increasing the safety weight in complaint systems, improving manual clarity and access, making leadership backing visible at the point of action, digitalizing contemporaneous records, and strengthening legal and media deterrence. The model yields testable propositions and a practice-ready template for managing safety enforcement in service-intensive, safety-critical settings.

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